Posted inInquests Issue 13

An end to the Plus of Galbraith in Inquests?

R (Police Officer B50) v HM Coroner for East Yorkshire and Kingston Upon Hull [2023] EWHC 81 (Admin) The Divisional Court (Stuart-Smith LJ and Fordham J) considered a challenge to a Coroner’s application of the Galbraith test as to what conclusions can safely be left to a jury in an…
July 18, 2023Posted inInquests, Issue 13Tags: ,
Posted inInquests Issue 13

Fresh Inquest into Death by Suicide Following Cessation of Benefits is Granted

Joy Dove v (1) HM Assistant Coroner for Teesside and Hartlepool and (2) Dr Shareen Rahman [2023] EWCA Civ 289 In Issue 10 of QMLR, I considered the judgment of the Divisional Court that refused the Applicant’s four grounds seeking an order to quash the Coroner’s determination. That article, and…
July 18, 2023Posted inInquests, Issue 13Tags:
Posted inInquests Issue 13

The Supreme Court provides authoritative guidance on the application of Article 2 to Coronial investigations and inquests

R (Maguire) v HM Senior Coroner for Blackpool & Fylde and another [2023] UKSC 20 Introduction The advent of the Human Rights Act 1998, and the incorporation into domestic law of the Article 2 right to life, has transformed coronial investigations and inquests over the last two decades. Lord Bingham’s magisterial…
July 18, 2023Posted inInquests, Issue 13
Posted inInquests Issue 12

Article 2 Systemic Duty and a teenager under Community Mental Health Services

R (Patton) v HM Assistant Coroner for Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire [2022] EWHC 1377 (Admin) Mrs Justice Hill quashed a ruling that the Article 2 general (or systemic) duty had not been potentially engaged by the death of Kianna Patton. The facts Kianna had been found hanging aged 16 at a…
May 2, 2023Posted inInquests, Issue 12Tags:
Posted inInquests Issue 12

Article 2 and a Child Under a Care Order

R (Boyce) v HM Senior Coroner for Teeside and Hartlepool [2022] EWHC 107 (Admin) Mrs Justice Belcher upheld the Coroner’s decision that Article 2 was not engaged by the death of a 15 year old girl (Grace Peers) who died while in the care of Middlesborough Borough Council, who had placed…
May 2, 2023Posted inInquests, Issue 12Tags:
Posted inInquests Issue 11

Fresh Inquests

Mays v HM Senior Coroner for Kingston Upon Hull & East Riding of Yorkshire [2021] EWHC 3604 (Admin) Earl v HM Senior Coroner for East Sussex [2021] EWHC 3468 (Admin) R (on the application of Ginn) v HM Senior Coroner for Inner London [2022] EWHC 28 (Admin) Three recent applications…
May 24, 2022Posted inInquests, Issue 11Tags: ,
Posted inInquests Issue 10

Withdrawal of Benefits, Article 2 and Inquests

Dove v HM Assistant Coroner for Teesside and Hartlepool [2021] EWHC 2511 (Admin) Facts Ms Whiting had spinal conditions since her early twenties, which gave her back pain, required surgery, and regular painkillers. She also had a history of mental health problems (depression, drug dependence, and emotionally unstable personality disorder)…
January 24, 2022Posted inInquests, Issue 10Tags: ,
Posted inInquests Issue 10

Application for Fresh Inquest Refused

Farrell v HMC for North East Hampshire [2021] EWHC 778 (Admin) Applying for a fresh inquest is not straightforward. First, the bereaved have to get permission from the Attorney General. Only once that authority has been granted will they be allowed to apply to the High Court to reopen the…
January 24, 2022Posted inInquests, Issue 10Tags:
Posted inInquests Issue 10

Is an Expert Report Prepared for the Purposes of an Inquest covered by Litigation Privilege?

In the matter of an application for Judicial Review by Linda Kercher and Carol Mitchell [2020] NICA 31; [2020] Inquest L.R. 76 NB The judgment was handed down in June 2020, but has only recently been made available online. A niche question, but an important one for those in the…
January 24, 2022Posted inInquests, Issue 10Tags:
Posted inInquests Issue 10

When does the Article 2 Investigative Duty Arise?

R (Morahan) v West London Assistant Coroner [2021] EWHC 1603 (Admin) Facts Tanya Morahan (“Tanya”) had a history of paranoid schizophrenia and harmful cocaine use. From mid-May 2018 she was an inpatient at a rehabilitation unit operated by the Trust. She was initially detained under s.3 of the Mental Health Act…
January 24, 2022Posted inInquests, Issue 10Tags: